disturbance of him or his people c. This they so vertuous and learned did with their Prince without resistance as knowing it to be their dutie so to do and his case to be farre different from that of our Soueraigne who was neuer excommunicated nor relapsed or indeede hereticke as I haue alreadie said and could more largely proue if need were yet they did not then nor euer will denie the Popes spirituall power to excommunicate And may not the King of great Brittaine require the like of his subiects both Clergie and people and they performe the same as well as the French without preiudicating the Apostolicall power When Monsignore Fontana Bishop of Ferrara knowing well the now Duke of Modina then vsurping the title and dominion of Ferrara to be excommunicated by name in most parts of Italie did notwithstanding of necessitie communicate with him as a subiect with his Prince and did refuse to publish it in his owne Church without the Dukes consent notwithstanding the Popes order and commandement vnto him Will any man say that this good Bishop denied the Popes spirituall power to excommunicate That were ridiculous or offended in disobedience No necessitie if nought else excused So enough of this matter There is another knot to be vntied which seemeth insoluble to wit that I do beleeue that neither the Pope nor any person whatsoeuer hath power to absolue me of this Oath or any part thereof c. And that I doe renounce all pardons dispensations to the contrary Is not this a plaine denying of the Popes spirituall authoritie Cardinall Bellarmine in Tortus plainly teacheth me Tortus §. 5. that he who a little before by swearing denieth the Popes power to bind the same doth now denie his power to loose For of those words of our Lord Quodcunque solueris super terram erit solutum in coelis all Catholicke men gather that power belongeth to the chiefe Bishop to absolue not onely from sins but also from punishments censures lawes vowes and oathes when it may be expedient to the glorie of God and health of soules This knot to him that vieweth it well will not be found to haue more difficultie to vnknit then the former of binding For as it is an vndoubted veritie that no Bishop no nor the Pope can by vertue of excommunication lesse by any temporall power out of his owne territories thrust any priuate Christian man out of his possessions who before had right thereto and bereaue him thereof as hath bene proued so it is as certaine that they can no more absolue a subiect of his dutie and naturall allegiance to his Prince and of his oath of fealtie made vnto him discharging him of all subiection and obedience then they can a wife of her dutie to her husband of childrens honoring their parents or seruants their maisters being warranted for the performance thereof by the law of God Honour thy father and thy mother c. against which no power in earth can dispence nor absolue them that is release them of such dutie At this word Absolue some silly soules yea and others that would be accounted wise are as it were scandalized beleeuing that taking the Oath they shall denie the Popes spirituall power of absoluing a sinner of his sinnes in foro conscientiae which euery Priest hauing iurisdiction may do little considering that they are not like to confesse their sinnes to him this yeare or euer in their life and out of confession his authoritie stretcheth not to remit or absolue one from deadly sinne These in a sort resemble some good creatures that I haue noted in Italie when they heare the Preacher in his sermon vtter this word Confiteor will by and by knocke their breasts thinking he is talking of confession when as the word signifieth sometime to giue thankes And like people of small vnderstanding beleeue that by renouncing all pardons and dispensations to the contrary they must denie the Popes power of granting indulgences or pardons as the practise is to beades graines crosses c. and of dispensing in any case whatsoeuer it being spirituall as cannot be denied Here I stand ambiguous Prou. 26. whether I should follow Salomons counsell or no Responde stulto iuxta stultitiam suam ne sibi sapiens esse videatur Answer a foole according to his folly lest he thinke himselfe wise It shall not be haply amisse for their more satisfaction to condescend somewhat vnto such letting them to vnderstand that to men of any iudgement it must needs be ridiculous who know it cannot nor ought so to be vnderstood but onely of pardoning and dispencing or releasing subiects of a lawfull Oath of fealtie and dutifull obedience to their Soueraigne This is not spirituall power which belongeth to the Church and therefore when such pardons and dispensations shall be offered by his Holines as is neuer like to be euery good subiect is bound to renounce them as being contrary to the ordinance of almightie God I aske these what they thinke whether the Pope or any power in earth can command absolue in this sence as we take it or dispence against the law of God and nature They must needs say as truth is he cannot and according to S. Thomas doctrine In his quaesunt de lege naturae 2.2 q. 88. ar 10. in praeceptis diuinis non potest per hominem dispensari In such things as are of the law of nature and in diuine precepts it cannot be dispensed withall by man Then I inferre and it is Barclaies argument not solued by Cardinall Bellarmine But subiection and obedience due to Princes and superiors is de iure naturali diuino this cannot be denied being euident in Scriptures Therefore neither the Pope nor any power in earth can command any thing absolue or dispense against it and consequently cannot command subiects not to performe obedience to their Prince or superior in that wherein he is superior if he should it is lawfull for them not to obey him not to accept of such a dispensation We grant with the Cardinall that it appertaineth to the Popes spirituall power to absoblue from sins also from paines and censures lawes vowes and oathes verumt amen non quidquid libet licet it is not meant in all lawes all vowes nor all oathes No man I thinke will say that he can absolue from the iust ciuill lawes of secular Princes for that were in alienam messem falcem mittere and to be a monarchicall superior in temporals which is not to be admitted but onely in his owne lawes and the Canons Decrees or positiue lawes of the Church wherein I confesse he hath plenitudinem potestatis as likewise Princes haue in the commonwealth and thereby may dispense in their owne lawes as S. Thomas teacheth 2.2 q. 6.7 ar 4. Princeps habet plenariam potestatem in republica 1.2 q. 96. a. 5. ad 3. Who according to the same in another place is said to be
perennes illi gratias agamus In quam sententiam cum dixisset Pontifex dimisit Consistorium cum benedictione LAVS DEO An Oration of Pope Sixtus the fift vpon the death of King Henry the third in Rome in the full assemblie of the Cardinals Considering oftentimes with my selfe and applying my whole vnderstanding vnto these things which now of late by a iust iudgement of God are come to passe I thinke I may with right vse the words of the Prophet Abacuck saying I haue wrought a worke in your daies which no man will beleeue when it shall be told him The French King is slaine by the hands of a Friar for vnto this it may fitly be compared although the Prophet spake of another thing namely of the incarnation of our Lord which exceedeth and surmounteth all other wonders and miracles whatsoeuer as also the Apostle S. Paul referreth the same words vnto the resurrection of Christ When the Prophet sayd a worke his mind was not to signifie by it some common or ordinarie thing but a rare notable matter and a deede worthy ro be remembred as that of the creation of the world The heauens are the works of thine hands And againe He rested the seauenth day of all the works which he had made When he saith I haue wrought with these wordes the holy Scripture is wont to expresse things not come to passe by casualtie fortune or accident but things befallen by the determined prouidence will and ordinance of God as our Sauiour sayd The works which I do ye shall do also and yet greater and many more such like wherewith the holy Scriptures are replenished And that he saith that it is done in times past herein he followeth the vse and order of the other Prophets who for the certainty of the euent are wont to prophesie of things to come as if they were past alreadie For the Philosophers say that things past are of necessitie things present of being and things to come onely of possibilitie For which certaintie the Prophet Isay long before prophesying of the death of Christ hath thus spoken He was led as a sheepe to the slaughter and like a dumbe lambe before his shearer so opened he not his mouth c. And this whereof we speake at this present and which is come to passe in these our dayes is a famous notable and an vncredible thing not done or atchieued without the particular prouidence and disposition of the Almightie A Friar hath kild a King not a painted one or drawne vpon a peece of paper or pictured vpon a wall but the King of France in the midst of his armie compassed and enuironed round about with his Guard and Souldiers which truely is such an act and done in such a manner that none will beleeue it when it shall be told them and perhaps our posterity and the age to come will account and esteeme it but a fable That the king is dead or else slaine it is easily to be beleeued but that he is kild and taken away in this sort is hardly to be credited euen as we presently agree vnto this that Christ is borne of a woman but if we adde vnto it of a woman virgin then following naturall reason we can no in wise assent vnto it Euen so we lightly beleeue that Christ died but that he is risen vp againe from death to life it falleth hard vnto mans vnderstanding and therefore not lightly digested That one is wakened againe out of a sleepe extasie or a sound because it is not against nature we naturally beleeue it but to be risen againe from death it seemeth so vncredible vnto the flesh that S. Paule disputing in Athens of this point was misliked greatly and accused to be a setter forth of new Gods so that many as S. Luke witnesseth did mock him and many for the strangenesse of the doctrine sayd We will heare thee againe of this thing Of such things therefore which befall not according to the lawes of nature and the ordinarie coursse thereof speaketh the Prophet That none shall beleeue it when it shall be told them But we giue credit vnto it by consideration of the omnipotencie of God and by submission of our vnderstanding vnder the obedience of faith and seruice which we owe vnto our Sauiour Christ And by these meanes this that was incredible by nature becometh credible by faith therfore we that beleeue not after the flesh that Christ is borne of a virgine yet when there is added vnto it that this was done supernaturally by operation of the holy Ghost then truly we agree vnto it and faithfully beleeue it So likewise when it is said that Christ is risē againe from the dead as we are flesh onely we beleeue it not but when it is affirmed that this was done by the power of the diuine nature which in him was then without any doubting we beleeue it In the same maner whē it shal be told vs that such a mighty King was kild by a poore simple and a weake Friar euen in the midst of his armie and enuironed with his Guard and Souldiers to our naturall reason and fleshly capacitie it will seeme vncredible yet cōsidering on the other side the great grieuous sinnes of this King and the speciall prouidence of the Almightie herein and by what accustomed wonderfull meanes he hath accomplished his most iust will and iudgment against him then most firmely we will beleeue it Therfore this great miraculous worke I may but onely ascribe it vnto the particular prouidence of God not as those that referre all things amisse vnto some ordinarie causes or vnto fortune or such like accidentarie euents but as those who more neere obseruing and looking in the course of the whole matter easily see that here in this befell many things which could in no wise haue bene brought to passe and dispatched without the speciall helpe of God And truely the state of Kings and kingdomes and all other such rare and weightie affaires should not be thought to be gouerned of God rashly and vnaduisedly In the holy Scripture some are of this kind and none of them can be referred vnto any other thing but vnto God the only author thereof yet there are none wherein the celestiall operation more appeareth then in this whereof we speake at this present We reade in the first booke of the Macchab. chap. 6. how Eleazar offered himselfe vnto a certaine death to kill the king that was an enemie and persecutor of the people and children of God For in the battell espying an Elephant more excellent then any of the other beasts whereupon it was like that the king was with a swift course casting himself in the midst of the troups of his enemies here and there making a way perforce came to the beast at last and went vnder her and thrust his sword in her belly and slue her who falling with the great weight of her body prest him to death
and kild him out of hand Here in this we see some things not vnlike vnto ours as much as toucheth the zeale valiantnesse of mind and the issue of the enterprise yet in the rest there is no comparison to be made Eleazarus was a Souldier exercised in weapons and trained vp in warres set in battell emboldened with courage and inflamed with rage and anger this a Friar not inured to the fight and so abhorring of bloud by the order of his profession that perhaps he could not abide the cutting of a veine He knew the kind of his death as also the place of his buriall namely that he should be intombed vnder the fall of the beast and so buried in the middest of his triumph and victorie This man did looke for death onely and expected nothing but vnknowne and most cruell torments and did not doubt before but that he should lacke a graue to rest within But in this are yet many other things that can suffer no comparison The famous historie of the holy woman Iudith is sufficiently knowne who tooke counsell with her selfe that she might deliuer her Citie and the people of God no doubt by the inspiration of the holy Ghost to murther Holophernes chiefe Captaine and Prince of the enemies forces which she also most valiantly accomplished Wherein although appeare many and most manifest tokens of heauenly direction yet farre greater arguments of Gods prouidence are to beseene in the killing of this King and the deliuering of the citie of Paris farre more difficult and harder to be brought to passe then was the enterprise of Iudith For this holy woman disclosed part of her intention before vnto the Gouernors of the Citie and went not without great commendation of young and old through the gates of Bethulia by the watch in sight and presence of the Elders and Princes of that place and by that meanes was not subiect vnto their examination and searching which is alwayes vsed so stricty in time of siege and warre that a flie can hardly without examining get by She being come to the enemy through whose campe and watches she was to go and now oftentimes examined and searched being a woman carrying no letters nor weapons about her from whence any suspition might grow and yielding probable reasons of her coming there and abandoning of her countrey was easily discharged As also for the same causes and for her sexe and exquisite beautie being brought before this lewd Prince whom lust wine and good cheare had rockt asleepe might lightly performe that which she had determined before But this religious man had vndertaken a matter of greater weight and also performed it which was compassed with so many impediments difficulties and dangers that it by no earthly meanes could haue bene brought to passe without the manifest ordinance and speciall aid of the Almightie First letters of commendation were to be procured from the enemie then was he constrained to go through that gate of the city which directly went to the enemies campe the which without doubt was so narrowly kept watched in the extremitie of that siege that euerie trifle bred suspition and none were suffered to go foorth without curious searching before touching their letters businesse and affaires they had But he a wonderfull thing went by the watch vnexamined yea with letters of commendatiō vnto the enemie which if they had bin intercepted by the citizens without delay and further sentence he should haue bene executed presently and therefore this is a manifest argument of Gods prouidence But this is a farre greater miracle that he without searching went also through the enemies campe by diuerse watches and sentinels and which more is through the Guard of the Kings body and finally through the whole armie which was compacted almost of none but Hugonots and Heretickes he being a religious man and apparelled after the order of his profession which was so odious vnto them that they killed or at least greatly misused all those Friars whom they found in those places which not long before they had taken perforce about Paris Iudith was a woman nothing odious yet examined oftentimes she carried nothing about her that might haue turned to her danger destruction This man a Friar therfore hated and most suspected hauing also a knife prepared for that purpose not put vp in a sheath which might haue made his excusation probable but bare hidden in his sleeue which if it had bene found about him presently without any further iudgment he should haue bin hanged All these are such cleare arguments of the particular prouidence of God that they cannot be denied or disprooued and it could not be otherwise but that God blinded the eies of the enemies so that they could not see nor know him For as we haue said before although some absurdly ascribe this vnto fortune or vnto some other such like accident yet we thinke good to referre all this to none else but vnto the holy will and ordinance of God And truly I could not beleeue this to haue bene done otherwise vnlesse I should captiue submit my vnderstanding vnder the obedience of Christ his doctrine who had determined by these miraculous meanes to vnset and deliuer the citie of Paris which as we haue heard hath bene in great danger extremitie and iustly punish the hainous and notorious sinnes of that King and take him away out of this world by such an vnhappie and infamous death And we truly not without great inward griefe haue oftentimes foretold that as he was the last of his name and familie so was he like to haue and make some strange and shamefull end of his life Which that I haue oftentimes said it not onely the Cardinals Ioiosa Lenocurtius and he of Paris but also the Oratour at that time here resident can sufficiently witnesse and testifie We will not seeme to call here to affirme our wordes for those that are already deceassed but the liuing some of them at this time present do yet well remember thē yet notwithstanding we will not vnrip all that we are able and forced to speak against this vnfortunate king for the most noble realme of France it sake which we shall prosecute and foster hereafter as we haue done alwaies before with al fatherly loue honor and affection This therefore which we with griefe haue spoken toucheth onely the kings person whose vnhappie and vnluckie end depriueth and exempteth him also of those duties and honors which this holy sea the tender and gentle mother of all faithfull but chiefly of christian Princes is wont to offer vnto all Kings and Emperours which we most willingly would likewise haue bestowed vpon him if the holy Scriptures in this case had not altogether forbidden it There is saith S. Iohn a sin vnto death I say not that any should pray for it which may be vnderstood both of the sin it selfe as if he should say for that sin or for the remission
his spirit may be saued in the day of our Lord. 1. Cor. 5. Disciplina est enim excommunicatio non eradicatio Now what can here be gathered by the definition end effects or substance of this spirituall censure for deposing Kings and disposing of temporals Marry sir that subiects are bound obeying the chiefe Pastors censure to shun their Prince excommunicated performing no dutie vnto him nor in any sort to communicate with him for an excommunicate person by name ought of all to be auoided to whom os orare vale communio mensa negatur And then when all forsake him is he not in effect deposed Yes truly when all his subiects do forsake him and he left alone Sed quando haec eruâ—â— Is a King more like to be forsaken then a paterfamilias a priuate man Almaine saith indeede Alm. de pot Eccl. laicâ— q. 1. cap. 9. that the Pope may forbid the subiects of a Prince vnder paine of excommunication to performe any dutie vnto him whereby in effect he loseth his kingdome when no man doth regard him yet cannot depose him though he abuse his authoritie to the destruction of the Christian faith But if a generall defection of subiects follow not if according to their dutie they adhere faithfully vnto him without regard to his censure how then What his Holinesse may do in this case of excommunication with absolute Princes being sheepe of Christs fold to be directed and corrected with that spirituall rod when there is hope of amendment as well as priuate men I will not dispute but experience of former ages teacheth it is not expedient See S. Aug. lib 3. c. 2. cont ep Parm. c. 26. and that such practise breedeth oft schismes reuolts troubles and tendeth rather to destruction of many then to edification of any when as S. Paul professeth power to be giuen to the Church to edifie not to destroy And when this power is exercised in destructionem it is not that power which cometh from God but impotencie and defect This we may be said to do that we may lawfully do Which power Doctor Sanders calleth the sword of the Church and sheweth how it should be vsed Sand. de clau Dauid c. 9. Gladius Ecclesiae in aedificationem datus est c. The sword of the Church is giuen to edification not to destruction to conferre life not to inferre death for defence of the flocke not for hurt of the sheepe to driue away the Wolfe not to deuoure the lambe This sword being spirituall and is to worke vpon soules not bodies or goods of any may be drawne foorth I must coÌ„fesse by the supreme Pastor against exorbitant Princes whose superior he ought to be acknowledged but onely in spirituals when there is hope to saue not to destroy to do good no harme and rather to make a wolfe a lambe then cause a lambe to become a wolfe ready to deuoure the flocke as sometimes such censures haue done which lameÌ„table experience on the persons of many Princes can testifie whereupon they proceeded further haply in rigor with their subiects then otherwise they would haue done and not so much for excommunication onely as for the clauses of depriuation deposition and absolution of subiects from their dutifull obedience which are farre from the nature and substance of a spirituall censure and exceedeth the limited of that power as very learned Catholike Authors go about to proue Excommunicatio saith Ludouicus Richeom non nisi excommunicatum facere potest Richeom in apolog eáque fulminatur in Principes c. Excommunication cannot cause one to be but excommunicated and it is thundred out against Princes not that they may become tyrants nor remoued from their possessions nor to slacken the raines vnto subiects or that they may be freed from their sworne fidelitie To this agreeth Medina Excommunicato non est priuatio alicuius boni proprij Medina in 1.2 q. 96. ar 4. citans Sotum quod transgressor legis prius possederat sed est priuatio bonorum communium c. Excommunication is not a taking away of any proper good which the transgressor of the law before had possessed but it is a depriuing of the common goods which he was to receiue of the Church as spirituall communion and receiuing sacraments By which doctrine is plaine that none poore or rich subiect or Prince may by vertue of excommunication meerely be dispossessed of any temporall goods whatsoeuer If they could then woe to all Christians in this respect that liue in such times as Bishops and Popes are not saints Any man excommunicated vpon repeÌ„tance may returne to grace be receiued of the Church and may recouer those spirituall goods he had lost as prayers suffrages and sacraments of the Church c. But if temporals especially kingdomes be once lost and confiscate what hope of recouery Wil it not be too late to cry Peccaui So then that punishment which God hath ordained for the good of soules would be most like to turne to the destruction of bodies soules and goods for euer if excommunication could worke such effect and were not as it ought to be medicinalis but exitialis which is not to be granted Moreouer if ye looke backe to ancient Canons of generall Councels yea to the Canons of the Apostles you shall see for the same or like crimes punishments to be inflicted on offendors but deposition inflicted on Clercks and on Laicks excommunication or depriuing onely of sacraments and communion making this distinction Si Clericus sit deponitor si Laicus à communione eijcitor Insinuating thereby as may seeme that the Church hath superioritie directly ouer Clerks to deposition or degradation of persons not so ouer the persons of Laicks further then to the censure of excommunication and therefore not ouer kingdomes and Kings who acknowledge no superiour on earth in temporals But I pray you if the Popes Holines vpon cause of heresie do excommunicate a Prince or priuate man and all that shall communicate with him or obey him is he not then to be auoided and forsaken of his subiects and inferiours or others whosoeuer He that denieth this seemeth to deny the Popes spirituall authority of binding that of S. Paul Haereticum hominem post primam secundam correptionem denita Tit. 3. A man that is an hereticke after the first and second admonition auoide What is this to our Oath Is there any such clause for heresie in it Are we to adde vnto it by our idle inuentions or are we vrged to take it otherwise then the words import simply as they lye framed by act of Parliament But these and such like fond verball obiections are the cauilling shifts of such as know not how to giue better answers to the substantiall points of the Oath and perswade some to the losse of their liues and others of their lands and goods to their vtter ruine if iustice without mercy be executed that it cannot be
taken without deniall of their faith neuer shewing them any particular point which it is for to say truth they cannot So then their bare word must be beleeued as an oracle or else in fine with a bat they will beate men downe The Popes commandement not hauing ought else to say which may conuince It may be admired they make no more conscience in such an important businesse as this is not hauing the Churches definition nor ancient Fathers approbations for their assertions After all some burst forth in most vncharitable railing slanderous backbitings against such priests as in conscience haue performed their dutie in taking it and persist in teaching the lawfulnesse thereof withdrawing friends and charitable almes from them counselling some and commanding others not to resort vnto them as I haue bene credibly told by some that haue themselues bene forbidden and much more such like dealings which shall not be here rehearsed Ignosce illis Deus quia nesciunt quid faciunt These ought not to be the proceedings neither of good subiects nor of discreete guides of mens soules or true disciples of Christ who are made knowne to all by a notorious cognisance commonly called loue or charity giuen by our Sauiour Christ In hoc cognoscent omnes quia discipuli mei estis Ioan. 13. si dilectioneÌ„ habueritis Adinuicem In this all men shal know that you are my disciples if you haue loue one to another Which badge were to be wished more visible then it is in some that pretend to be true followers of Christ Now to the authoritie of S. Paul may be answered that an hereticke so taken condemned and denounced by the Church is to be auoided in his heresie to be taken heed of that he be not seduced by him haeresis enim serpit vt cancer for heresie creepeth as a canker and in humane conuersation also when there is hope to reduce him thereby to a better mind Vt spiritus saluus sit But as no Catholike is by the lawes of this realme to be accompted a Recusant till he be conuicted so is none by the lawes of the Church to be reputed an hereticke to be auoided till he be by her admonished condemned and denounced for such which is neuer without pertinacie in heresie And what maketh this for them that say we denie the Popes authoritie God forbid that I by his grace a Catholicke priest should euer denie the Popes spirituall power to excommunicate any Prince or people that were once incorporated into the body mysticall of Christ by Baptisme but as I haue denied excommunication of her owne nature to extend to deposition and taking away of temporals so I may not grant that euery excommunicate person is to be abandoned of all and debarred of all humane society and conuersation Though humane communication esteemed one of the common goods is found also among the faithfull as to eate together to salute to talke negotiate and such like yet this sort of communication belongeth not to them properly as they are Christians and members of the Church but as they are citizens parts of the body politick And as they are such they are bound to adhere vnto the head of this body their Prince not to forsake but obey him in all iust ciuill causes notwithstanding any sentence of excommunicatioÌ„ as hath bene proued before out of Syluester Panormitan others which is not to deny the Popes power No if you reade Tortus and beleeue him I know you wil change your opinion for vpon those words That the Pope neither of himselfe nor by any authority of the Church or Sea of Rome hath any power or authority to depose the king c. or to discharge any of his subiects of their allegiance and obedience to his Maiestie c. He writeth thus Torâ—us par 3. Here it is manifestly seene that this Oath doth not containe onely ciuill obedience in things meerely temporall as the Authour of the Apologie our Soueraigne so oft hath repeated but it containeth also a denyall of the Popes power which is not a thing meerely temporall but a holy thing and giuen from aboue which no mortall man can take away or diminish It is strange that his Maiesties oft repetition of a truth nothing to be contained in the Oath or required but ciuil obedience seemeth irkesome to the Cardinal it being very necessary wheÌ„ men will not vnderstand but his Grace goeth not about to disproue it And who I pray you is a better interpreter of a law when doubts or difficulties arise then he that made the law If it containes a deniall of the Popes power his Grace should haue done well to haue proued it and shewed wherein Though the Cardinall for many respects ought of me somtime not vnknown vnto him highly to be reuerenced and his writings credited yet in this matter to me most cleare I must craue pardon if I differ from him in opinion and write otherwise not being able after study and diligent search of this matter to see it so manifest as his Grace wold make his reader beleeue It is most manifest the ancient Fathers neuer taught so viz. to be in the Popes power to depose Kings nor discharge subiects of their loyaltie and dutifull obedience the Church neuer yet defined it so can I then be so credulous to beleeue his bare word without better proofe His ipse dixit in this will not be sufficient The other florish to leade away a simple and inconsiderate reader forsooth that the Popes power is spirituall a holy thing from heauen c. is somewhat vainely and to no purpose inserted for no Catholicke denieth it and we that haue taken the Oath of allegiance are readie with Gods grace if need were to shed our bloud in defence therof and euerie point of Catholicke faith albeit we suffer disgraces and neuer receiued temporall benefite nor euer tooke oath vsque ad effusionem sanguinis inclusiuè so to do as the most illustrous and most reuerend purple Fathers are accustomed to take when in publicke consistory they receiue their hats The Cardinall in Tortus goeth on further to prooue by subsequent words in the Oath that the Popes spirituall power is denied Parag. 4. which were enough to terrifie Christian subiects if it were true The words are these Also I do sweare from my heart that notwithstanding any declaration or sentence of excommunication or depriuation made or granted or to be made or granted by the Pope or his successors or by any authoritie deriued or pretended to be deriued from him or his Sea against the said King his heires or successours or any absolution of the said subiects from their obedience I will beare faith and true allegiance to his Maiestie his heires and successors Here saith the Card. is openly denyed that the Pope hath power to excommunicate Kings though they be heretikes Note his proofe For how saith he can a Catholicke lawfully and iustly sweare that he will